Happy Valentine’s Day! This isn’t beauty-related, but I thought some of you might be interested in seeing this anyway! Besides makeup, I also love to collect toys, especially fandom figurines (Nendoroid, FIGMA, etc.) and Re-Ment miniatures. I’ve always loved dollhouses and the miniature accessories you could put in there, but I don’t have a dollhouse anymore (maybe one day). Even so, I still like to collect and display Re-Ments, and I recently made a small haul from modes4u, a Hong Kong-based Re-Ment distributor. There are a lot of Re-Ment distributors out there, but I like modes4u because they have a good selection, fair prices, and shipping is reasonable and relatively quick for coming from overseas (I received my package in about a week).

If you’re not familiar, Re-Ments are a very popular Japanese brand of miniatures, and they come in blind boxes, meaning you don’t know exactly which variation you’ll get until you open it. I chose three sets: Ekinaka Sweets, Have a Bite!, and Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe. They also included a free gift, a roll of washi tape!

First up, Ekinaka Sweets. ‘Eki‘ means station (as in train or subway) and ‘naka‘ means within, or inside, so this set is themed around the types of desserts you’d find in stations around Japan. A lot of subway and train stations around the world also have lots of little niche stores and restaurants within, kind of like duty-free shopping in airports.

I really was hoping for the macarons (if you know me…), but I received variation 6 in the set, the shukumatsu no jibun you SWEETS. This is a bit awkward for my rusty Japanese skills to translate, but I think it basically means, “my weekend sweets” or “weekend sweets for myself.”

The set consists of heart-shaped cookies (?) and a Swiss roll-type cake, with a plastic heart-shaped container for the former and a cardboard box for the latter. I guess these are the types of sweets Japanese people buy for themselves on the weekend? ::x: As far as I can tell, “Rayures Douces” is not a real place, but I might be wrong! I tried Googling its meaning, but found a lot of images of ties… From translating the individual words, it seems to mean “Sweet Stripes,” but if I know the Japanese, they love their nonsensical foreign phrases, so that may not be accurate!

Next up is the Have a Bite! series. I actually have another in this series already, so I was crossing my fingers I wouldn’t get the same one. Luckily, I didn’t! But I still didn’t get the one I wanted the most, which were the crepes… :-_-: The box illustration has a train, and the names of famous station stops (Harajuku, Asakusa), so it seems this one is themed similar to the Ekinaka Sweets series. I don’t know why they chose some of the sets for this theme, though…

I received set 3, one of the ice cream sets. I can’t make heads or tails of the kanji for this set, so I won’t even try to translate it. However, the text underneath says there are color variations! *accomplished* (By the way, the other set I have from this series is number 6, which I can read: yume no ASIAN SWEETS, which I guess translates to “Asian sweets from my dreams.”)

The set contains a three-scoop ice cream in a waffle cone and a choco-vanilla swirl ice cream in a sugar cone, as well as holders for both. It also comes with two ice cream sandwiches, one choco and one vanilla, in sealed packages, and an ice cream cup with a little spoon. My gripe with this set is the holders are very flimsy, and if you don’t balance the ice creams right, they’re prone to tipping over.

Lastly, the Rilakkuma Chocolate Cafe. This is a really cute series themed around Rilakkuma and friends opening up a little cafe.

I wanted sets 3 and 1 (that pour-over coffee!) most, but as blind boxes usually go, I received neither! I received set 5, the omochi kaeri SET, or the takeout set. Luckily, this was my choice number 3, so I guess I won a little bit after all.

This set comes with two takeout coffees, one in a hot cup, and the other in a cold cup with whipped cream. I wish they’d included a straw for the frappe! It also comes with two flaky pastries, one shaped like Rilakkuma — I guess they are supposed to be croissants, or maybe even cronuts?! (Jk.) It comes with a tray, but I suspect that this is not a serving tray. If you’re not familiar with Asian bakeries, they are usually self-serve with trays and tongs or wax paper. You choose which breads you want, and bring them on the tray to be rung up. At that point, the cashier will bag or box your items for you. We don’t have an Asian bakery in my town, so when I visit Houston, we always load up on breads and cakes from the bakeries there. We usually need three or four trays. :oh: So, I think this is one of those “selection” trays, and the last item in the set, a paper bag from the cafe, is meant to be your takeout bag when you’re done choosing and paying your items.

I think this is my favorite of the three series I ordered, but that’s obvious because I love coffee and sweets…

Here they are all together, with their box inserts! I forgot to mention, the Ekinaka sweets box had a piece of apple mint gum inside, but I chomped away on that before I even thought to take pictures.

And with a Zoya polish bottle for scale… (sorry, no banana for you Redditors).

I hope you enjoyed this little departure from beauty. I may do more of these types of posts in the future, just so I can keep committed to a regular posting schedule.

A lot of people collect them for their dollhouses, but I just like the little sets by themselves! I would love to build a dollhouse, but it is a lot of work, and I don’t think we have anywhere to put it.

hehe they do look like cronuts! 😀 i tried collecting these before when i was younger. i remember getting really excited about how cute and small they are… and then shortly after loosing them one by one LOL